Day 24 - Town

Today I wear cotton! But first...

It was burrrrr chilly this morning when the alarm went off at 5:30. I dutifully ignored it for a bit but finally I rummaged around in my clothes bag for my stinky hiking clothes. I'm gonna be glad not to put these on again tomorrow morning. 

Too bad there isn't a smellometer button you could push so you could experience the full effect. 

Anyway I took off around 6:45, not knowing when DW would get to town and not wanting to make him wait. 

It's been about 7 years since I hiked the TRT and I didn't remember much of the trail I was walking on. Initially I walked on an old road with a nice walking texture under foot. 

 Then the road became a river bed, or so it seemed. 

Eventually the trail crossed Ward Road which, had I turned right, would have taken me to Hwy 89 in 1.5 miles. Hummm. What to do?

Oh well, I was hiking, not road walking, so I went on ahead and took the trail. 

The remaining 4 miles was mostly either up, or down, though in the middle was a beautiful meadow. I think it is called Paige Meadow. 

I passed one last mountain stream, about 2 feet wide. 

Then it was down, down, down to Tahoe City. One interesting thing happened on the way down was that I was passed, both ways, by a group of Deaf folks running/hiking this section of trail. I only know because I stopped one man to ask him a question about something and he indicated he was Deaf. I signed, "Sorry, my bad" and he grinned, then went on his way. You meet lots of interesting folks on the trail. 

64 Acres is a big parking lot off of Hwy 89 and I finally got there.Texting DW to let him know where I was, he showed up about 2-3 minutes later! Perfect timing!

Then it was off to South Lake Tahoe to pick up the packages I'd mailed to the Mellow Mountain Hostel. Next up in the order of importance was eating, so we went to, wait for it...

I have a personal rule that I'm only allowed to drink sodas when I'm backpacking so I had my last soda with lunch. Burgers and fries are, however, a horse of a different color. 

We drove for 3-4 hours, getting to Groveland about 3:30. I couldn't seem to get my car open with the clicker thing so DW figured it out for me. I haven't had to concern myself with these kinds of things lately. Clothes retrieved, a shower was in order. 

There is nothing like Mexican food for a native Californian who's been on the trail for three weeks. Sopes, beans and beer. Ahhhhh. Life back in town. 

We watched a Harry Potter movie then it was off to bed. I'm headed to Kennedy Meadows tomorrow to retrieve my resupply box, for the second year in a row. Next year I might actually walk in rather than drive.